Rosaria Butterfield rocked the Evangelical world when she shared her self-proclaimed “train wreck conversion.” “As a leftist lesbian professor, I despised Christians,” she said. “Then I somehow became one.” Butterfield recently spoke at Southeastern Seminary about her latest book, Openness Unhindered: Further Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. In her talk, she discusses where the term ‘sexual... Read More

Last year, a faculty member at one of the most trusted Bible colleges in the country told me of the school’s growing financial troubles necessitating the release of faculty members. A couple months ago I read that Omaha’s Grace University (formerly Grace College of the Bible) was closing its doors at the end of this …

When former President Barack Obama said he was “heartened” by anti-Trump protests, he was sending a message of approval to his troops. Troops? Yes, Obama has an army of agitators — numbering more than 30,000 — who will fight his Republican successor at every turn of his historic presidency. And Obama will command them from a bunker less than two miles from the White House.

In what’s shaping up to be a highly unusual post-presidency, Obama isn’t just staying behind in Washington. He’s working behind the scenes to set up what will effectively be a shadow government to not only protect his threatened legacy, but to sabotage the incoming administration and its popular “America First” agenda.

He’s doing it through a network of leftist nonprofits led by Organizing for Action. Normally you’d expect an organization set up to support a politician and his agenda to close up shop after that candidate leaves office, but not Obama’s OFA. Rather, it’s gearing up for battle, with a growing war chest and more than 250 offices across the country.

People who self-identify as non-religious are now the largest bloc of registered voters in America for the first time in a presidential election year, according to data from the Pew Research Center.

Since 2008, the group who identify as having "no religion" has gone from 14 to 21 percent, putting it just past Catholics and white evangelicals, which both at 20 percent.

Of the non-religious, about 54 percent are Democrats or lean Democratic, compared to only 23 percent who lean Republican.

Though the non-religious are a greater share of registered voters, it doesn't necessarily mean that will be represented in votes. In the 2012 election, the non-religious bloc made up 18 percent, but only 12 percent of them actually voted according to exit polls.

Not surprisingly, this increase of non-religious voters correlates to a decrease in the importance people see of religion in American political life. In 2008, 75 percent of people said that churches and places of worship were important to solving social problems. That number is now 58 percent. In 2008, 72 percent of voters said it was important for a president to have strong religious beliefs. Today, that number is 62 percent.

Brent Madaris's insight:

This is a deceptive article title in some ways, and leaves one with the wrong impression..

When one breaks down the Protestant and Catholic vote into smaller / individual units (like white evangelical protestants, black evangelical protestants, white catholics, etc., it is very easy to "break it down" to the point of minimizing the true picture!

What the study actually reveals is the "religious" minded voters still dominate the American political landscape. When one adds up all the "religious" minded voters they total 69%. The Non religious make up 21%.

This is not to say that the "non-religious" trend in America is not disturbing. As regular, everyday people, continue to see the church as irrelevant to the fabric of American life, we will indeed one day be outnumbered.

We must pray (and work) to make sure that our churches are impacting society in ways that are biblically meaningful.

In the wake of the Orlando massacre, Dr. Liza H. Gold delineates the differences between mental illness and fanaticism.

Brent Madaris's insight:

"Mass shootings are the most sensational, gut wrenching, and widely publicized form of firearm violence. Nevertheless, statistically speaking, mass shooting homicides are the rarest form of firearm death. These incidents account for less than 1% of firearm mortality each year. About 33,000 people a year are killed by firearms. Firearm suicide accounts for about 65% of these deaths; the rest are overwhelmingly the result of interpersonal violence, not violence committed by a stranger with a gun."

Recent research argues that the United States is secularizing, that this religious change is consistent with the secularization thesis, and that American religion is not exceptional. But we show that rather than religion fading into irrelevance as the secularization thesis would suggest, intense religion—strong affiliation, very frequent practice, literalism, and evangelicalism—is persistent and, in fact, only moderate religion is on the decline in the United States. We also show that in comparable countries, intense religion is on the decline or already at very low levels. Therefore, the intensity of American religion is actually becoming more exceptional over time. We conclude that intense religion in the United States is persistent and exceptional in ways that do not fit the secularization thesis.

As Pastor Andy Foor settled into what he thought was going to be a peaceful Saturday morning of fishing on the Kenai River in Alaska, he suddenly heard screaming. A woman had slipped into nearby water. Foor uttered a prayer and cast his line. God oversaw what happened next.

A Harvard journal is refusing to retract a 2014 article it published about an infamous scrap of papyrus suggesting Jesus had a wife even though the professor who authored it now admits the fragment is a forgery.

According to a new nationwide online survey (Below) of 600 Muslims living in the United States, of those polled a significant minority embraces the supremacist notions that could pose a threat to A…

Brent Madaris's insight:

Muzammil Siddiqi, chairman of both the Fiqh Council of North America, which dispenses Islamic rulings, and the North American Islamic Trust, which owns most of the mosques in the U.S.: “As Muslims, we should participate in the system to safeguard our interests and try to bring gradual change, (but) we must not forget that Allah’s rules have to be established in all lands, and all our efforts should lead to that direction.”

• Omar Ahmad, co-founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the top Muslim lobby group in Washington: “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Quran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.”

• CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper: “I wouldn’t want to create the impression that I wouldn’t like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future.”

• Imam Siraj Wahhaj, director of the Muslim Alliance in North America: “In time, this so-called democracy will crumble, and there will be nothing. And the only thing that will remain will be Islam.”

• Imam Zaid Shakir, co-founder of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, Calif.: “If we put a nationwide infrastructure in place and marshaled our resources, we’d take over this country in a very short time. . . . What a great victory it will be for Islam to have this country in the fold and ranks of the Muslims.”…

Rosaria Butterfield rocked the Evangelical world when she shared her self-proclaimed “train wreck conversion.” “As a leftist lesbian professor, I despised Christians,” she said. “Then I somehow became one.” Butterfield recently spoke at Southeastern Seminary about her latest book, Openness Unhindered: Further Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. In her talk, she discusses where the term ‘sexual... Read More

Thousands of students across the United States celebrated their religious freedom Thursday by bringing their Bibles to school as part of a new campaign launched by Christian organization Focus on the Family.

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